The famous Haydon-Prideaux partnership.
满地打滚想看一九四一年巴尔干到马德里的南欧传输线
原作是勒卡雷老师的，译文是董乐山老师的，只有整理和错字是我的。
（吉姆·普莱多与比尔·罗奇的对话）
"My other name's Bill,"he said. "I was christened Bill but Mr. Thursgood calls me William."
"Bill, eh. The unpaid Bill.Anyone ever call you that?"
"No, sir."
"Good name, anyway."
"Yes, sir."
"Known a lot of Bills. They've all been good'uns."
“我的名字叫比尔，”他说，“我受洗时的正式名字就叫比尔，可是瑟斯古德叫我威廉。”
“比尔，是啊。没付的账单。有人这么叫过你吗？”
“没有，先生。”
“反正名字不错。”
“谢谢您，先生。”
“我认识不少叫比尔的，他们都是好样的。”
（比尔·罗奇视角）
He imagined also that, like himself, Jim had had a great attachmentthat had failed him, and which he longed to replace. But here Bill Roach's speculationmet a dead end: he had no idea how adults loved each other.
他也想像，吉姆像自己一样，也曾经有过自己所爱恋的人做了对不起他的事，因此想找个人来代替。但是想到这里，比尔·罗奇的想像力进了死胡同：他对于成年人怎样互相爱恋无法想像。
（比尔·罗奇视角）
That same term, Jim invented anickname for Roach. He dropped "Bill" and called him Jumbo instead.He gave no reason for this and Roach, as is common in the case of christenings,was in no position to object. In return, Roach appointed himself Jim'sguardian; a regent-guardian was how he thought of the appointment; a stand-inreplacing Jim's departed friend, whoever that friend might be.
就在这个学期，吉姆给罗奇取了一个外号。他不再叫他比尔，改称大胖。他没有说明原因，而罗奇呢，也无法反对，在取名字的事情上一般都是这样。罗奇则以吉姆的监护人自命，他心中自称是摄政王，代替吉姆的那个离去的朋友，不管那朋友可能是谁。
（罗迪·马丁台尔与乔治·史迈利对话时所说）
And straight on, as if never bythought or word had he subscribed to that silly view: "It was the Czechscandal that put the final nail into Control's coffin, I suppose. That poor fellow who was shot in the backand got himself into the newspapers, the one who was so thick with Bill Haydonalways, so we hear. Ellis, we're to call him, and we still do, don't we,even if we know his real name as well as we know our own."
好像他不论从思想上或者口头上，从来没有相信过这种愚蠢的谣言似的。他马上又说：“给老总的棺材钉上最后一个钉子的，大概是捷克事件吧。那个可怜的家伙，背上挨了一枪，把事情闹到上报了，听说他与比尔·海顿一直很亲密。埃利斯，我们得叫他这个名字，尽管我们知道他的真实姓名，就像知道自己的姓名一样确实，我们还是得这么叫他，是不是？”
（勒老师在这里没有指名道姓，关于吉姆·普莱多是不是剥头皮组第一任组长还有待考证）
The scalp-hunters' official namewas Travel. They had been formed by Control on Bill Haydon's suggestion in thepioneer days of the cold war, when murder and kidnapping and crash blackmailwere common currency, and their first commandant was Haydon's nominee.
剥头皮组的正式名称叫“旅行组”，是冷战初期老总在比尔·海顿建议下设立的，当时暗杀、绑架、讹诈成风。他们的第一任头头是海顿提名的。
（奥立弗·拉康与乔治·史迈利的对话）
"Why do I say Ellis?" heasked conversationally. "Why do I talk about the Ellis affair when thepoor man's name was Prideaux?"
"Ellis was hisworkname."
"Of course. So many scandalsin those days, one forgets the details." Hiatus. Swinging of the right forearm.Lunge. "And he was Haydon's friend, not yours?"
"They were at Oxford togetherbefore the war."
"And stablemates in theCircus during and after. The famousHaydon-Prideaux partnership. My predecessor spoke of it interminably."
“我为什么要说埃利斯？”他找话说，“那个可怜的家伙明明叫普莱多，我为什么说埃利斯事件？”
“埃利斯是他工作的名字。”
“对了。那些日子里不断出事，让人连细节都忘了。”停了一会儿，他挥着右臂向外一甩，“他是海顿的朋友，不是你的朋友？”
“他们在战前一起念牛津。”
“后来在战时和战后一直是圆场的同伴。有名的海顿-普莱多搭档。我的前辈不断提到他们。”
（彼得·吉勒姆视角）
He also knew, like everyone else,that a big operation had aborted in Czechoslovakia, that the Foreign Office andthe Defence Ministry had jointly blown a gasket and that Jim Prideaux—head of the scalp-hunters—the oldest Czecho hand, and BillHaydon's lifelong stringer, had been shot up and put in the bag. Hence, heassumed, the loud silence and the glum faces. Hence also Bill Haydon's manic anger, of which the news spread likea nervous thrill through all the building: like God's wrath, said Mary, wholoved a full-scale passion. Later he heard the catastrophe called Testify.Testify, Haydon told him much later, was the most incompetent bloody operationever launched by an old man for his dying glory, and Jim Prideaux was the priceof it.
他跟大家一样，也知道捷克破了一个大案，外交部和国防部联合发表声明，推说并不知情，剥头皮组的组长吉姆·普莱多原来是第一号捷克通，也是比尔·海顿的长期密友，背上中了一枪，给抓了起来。大家都缄口不言，板着面孔，他想大概就是这个缘故。比尔·海顿大发雷霆，大概也是这个缘故。这消息很快就传遍了整个大楼，大家又紧张又兴奋，据玛丽说有点像上帝震怒，不过她总是喜欢夸大其词。后来他听说这场灾难的代号叫“作证”。海顿告诉他，一个老头子为了死前的临别光荣纪念，搞这么个活动，实在窝囊，结果拿吉姆·普莱多作牺牲。
（彼得·吉勒姆视角）
Or that Bill Haydon had resigned,on the grounds that he had been overruled or undercut, but Bill was alwaysresigning. This time, said the rumour, the grounds were somewhat different,however: Haydon was furious that theCircus would not pay the Czech price for Jim Prideaux's repatriation; itwas said to be too high in agents, or prestige. And that Bill had broken out in one of his fits of chauvinism anddeclared that any price was fair to get one loyal Englishman home: give themeverything, only get Jim back.
还有人说比尔·海顿已经辞职，因为上上下下都不支持他，不过比尔一直是在闹辞职的。只是据谣言说，这一次原因略有不同。海顿所以生气是因为圆场不肯付给捷克为了遣返吉姆·普莱多所索取的代价。据说，无论是为了情报员或者威望，这个代价都太高了。但是比尔沙文主义大发作，他扬言，为了把一个爱国的英国人搞回来，任何代价都不算高：只要能把吉姆弄回来，什么都可以给他们。
（彼得·吉勒姆视角）
Another time, raking through warrecords of Circus strong-arm men, more out of nostalgia for the period thanpresent professional optimism, Guillam stumbled twice on Haydon's workname inas many minutes: in 1941 he was running French fishing smacks out of theHelford Estuary; in the same year, with Jim Prideaux as his stringer, he waslaying down courier lines across southern Europe from the Balkans to Madrid.
另外一次，吉勒姆与其说是出于对目前工作的劲头，不如说是出于怀恋过去，他翻阅战时圆场海外活动记录，在两份记录中两次见到了海顿的工作姓名：一九四一年他在海尔福特河口指挥法国渔船；同一年，以吉姆·普莱多为助手，从巴尔干到马德里布置了一条南欧传输线。
（乔治·史迈利视角）
And hearing Tom Tower strike theevening six, he found himself thinking of Bill Haydon and Jim Prideaux, who musthave arrived here the year that he went down, and were then gathered up by thewar; and he wondered idly how they must have looked together then; Bill, the painter, polemicist andsocialite; Jim, the athlete, hanging on his words. In their heyday together inthe Circus, he reflected, that distinction had all but evened out: Jim grewnimble at the brainwork and Bill in the field was no man's fool. Only at theend, the old polarity asserted itself: the workhorse went back to his stable,the thinker to his desk.
听到汤姆钟楼敲晚上六点钟时，他想起了比尔·海顿和吉姆·普莱多。他们大概是他到伦敦去的那一年到这里来的，后来又因战争而聚在一起了。他漫不经心地想着他们两人当时在一起的样子：比尔是个画家、辩论家、交际家，吉姆是个运动员，一切都听他的话。他想到在圆场他们两人最红的时候，这种差别几乎拉平了：吉姆在动脑筋方面开始灵活起来，而比尔去搞外勤无人能望其项背。只有到最后，原来的两极差别又明显起来，拉马车的马回到了马厩，思想家回到了书桌。
（康妮·沙赫斯的旧照片）
Connie with Bill Haydon one side and Jim Prideaux the other, the menin cricket gear and all three looking very-nicely-thank-you, as Connie put it,on a summer course at Sarratt, the grounds stretching out behind them, mown andsunlit, and the sight screens glistening.
康妮与比尔·海顿和吉姆·普莱多的照片，一边一个，他们穿的是打板球的球衣，三个人都显得很高兴，那是在沙拉特夏季训练班照的，身后是一片很大的场地，草都剪得短短的，阳光灿烂，打靶场上的瞄准靶闪烁着。
（康妮·沙赫斯与乔治·史迈利对话时所说）
" 'We miss his flair,' says Giles, 'they don't breed them likeBill Haydon any more.' Giles must be a hundred and eight in the shade. Says hetaught Bill modern history, in the days before 'Empire' became a dirty word. Asked after Jim, too. 'His alter ego, wemight say, hem hem, hem hem.' You never liked Bill, did you?"
“翟理斯说：‘我们很想念他，他们现在再也培养不出比尔·海顿那样的人才了。’翟理斯至少有一百零八岁了。他说，他在大英帝国成为一个肮脏字眼以前教过比尔现代史。他还问到吉姆的情况。可以说是他的另一个化身，哈哈。你从来不喜欢比尔是不是？”
（彼得·吉勒姆视角）
That Bill Haydon was looking strangely young and that Circus rumoursabout his love-life were not after all so laughable: they said he went bothways.
比尔·海顿看上去出奇地年轻，圆场流传关于他恋爱生活的谣言毕竟不是完全无稽可笑的：他们说，他两头都来。
（奥立弗·拉康与乔治·史迈利的对话）
"You asked me to look out for anything on Prideaux," heannounced at last. "Well, I find that we do have a few papers on him,after all."
He had happened to be going through some files on the internalsecurity of the Circus, he explained, "Simply to clear my decks."Doing so, he had stumbled on some old positive vetting reports. One of themrelated to Prideaux.
"He was cleared absolutely, you understand. Not a shadow.However"—an odd inflexion of his voice caused Smiley to glance athim—"I think it might interest you, all the same. Some tiny murmur abouthis time at Oxford. We're all entitled to be a bit pink at that age."
"Indeed, yes."
The silence returned, broken only by the soft tread of Mendelupstairs.
"Prideaux and Haydonwere really very close indeed, you know," Lacon confessed. "I hadn'trealised."
“你叫我注意有没有普莱多的资料，”他终于说，“我发现，我们确实有一些关于他的文件。”
他解释说，他正好在查阅关于圆场内部保密问题的一些档案，“只是为了要清理办公桌。”他发现一些审查结果报告。其中一份是关于普莱多的。
“你知道，他是完全审查清楚没有问题的，一点嫌疑也没有。不过，”——他的口气有了一种奇怪的变化，使史迈利看了他一眼——“我觉得你还是会感兴趣的。有一些关于他在牛津上学时的描述绘声绘色。在那个年龄，咱们谁都有点儿左倾。”
“的确是这样。”
沉默又恢复了，只有孟德尔在楼上轻轻的踱步声打破这沉默。
“你知道，普莱多和海顿曾经是很要好的朋友，”拉康承认道，“这我以前可不知道。”
（山姆·科林斯与乔治·史迈利对话时所说）
"...Ellis had been shot but they didn't say killed; otherarrests were imminent. I looked Ellis up in the workname index and found JimPrideaux. And I thought, just as Control must have thought, If Jim is shot andhas Czech papers, how the hell do they know his workname, and how do they knowhe's British? Then Bill Haydon arrived,white as a sheet. Picked up the story on the ticker-tape at his club. Heturned straight round and came to the Circus."
“……埃利斯被枪击中，但他们没有说打死了他，其他人正在搜捕中。我找工作假名索引，找到埃利斯就是吉姆·普莱多。于是我想，老总大概也会这么想：如果吉姆被枪击中，用的又是捷克护照，他们怎么能知道他的工作假名，他们怎么能够知道他是英国人？这时比尔·海顿来了，脸色白得像一张纸。他是在俱乐部的自动收报机上看到消息的，就马上赶到圆场来。”
（山姆·科林斯与乔治·史迈利对话时所说）
"He was a treat to watch, that's all I can tell you. I used tothink of him as an erratic sort of devil. Not that night, believe me. Allright, he was shaken. Who wouldn't be? He arrived knowing there'd been aGod-awful shooting party and that was about all. But when I told him that it was Jim who'd been shot, he looked at melike a madman. Thought he was going to go for me. 'Shot. Shot how? Shot dead?'I shoved the bulletins into his hand and he tore through them one by one—"
“他的样子真吓人，我能告诉你的就是这些。我原来总以为他是个性情怪僻的人。那天晚上可不是。没错，他很震惊。在那种情况下谁不会那样呢？他来的时候，知道发生了枪击事件，别的就不知道。等我告诉他中枪的是吉姆时，他的眼光像疯子一般。我还以为他要向我扑过来呢。‘中枪。怎么中枪的？中枪死了吗？’我把报道塞在他手中，他一张接一张看——”
（山姆·科林斯与乔治·史迈利的对话）
"Anyway, he took over the switchboard and by morning he'dpicked up what few pieces there were and introduced something pretty close tocalm. He told the Foreign Office to sit tight and hold its water; he got holdof Toby Esterhase and sent him off to pull in a brace of Czech agents, studentsat the London School of Economics. Bill had been letting them hatch till then;he was planning to turn them round and play them back into Czecho. Toby'slamplighters sandbagged the pair of them and locked them up in Sarratt. Then Bill rang the Czech head resident inLondon and spoke to him like a sergeant major: threatened to strip him so barehe'd be the laughing-stock of the profession, if a hair of Jim Prideaux's headwas hurt. He invited him to pass that on to his masters. I felt I waswatching a street accident and Bill was the only doctor. He rang a presscontact and told him in strict confidence that Ellis was a Czech mercenary withan American contract; he could use the story unattributably. It actually madethe late editions. Soon as he could, he slid off to Jim's rooms to make surehe'd left nothing around that a journalist might pick on if a journalist wereclever enough to make the connection, Ellis to Prideaux. I guess he did athorough cleaning-up job. Dependants, everything."
"There weren't anydependants," Smiley said. "Apart from Bill, I suppose," headded, half under his breath.
“反正，他把事情接过手去，到天亮的时候精神已经恢复了一些，可以说恢复了镇静。他告诉外交部不要慌张，他找到托比·伊斯特哈斯，派他去逮了两个捷克间谍，那是伦敦经济学院的学生。比尔原来一直没有去找他们麻烦，是打算把他们搞过来派到捷克去的。托比的点路灯的把他们绑了过来，关在沙拉特。然后比尔打电话给捷克驻伦敦的常驻站长，不客气地对他说，如果他们伤了吉姆·普莱多一根寒毛，他就要他好看，叫他成为同行的笑柄。比尔叫他把这话传给他的上司。我觉得好像是大家围在街上看意外事故，只有比尔是医生。他打电话给报界的一个朋友，透露给他说，埃利斯是捷克雇用的，和美国有关系，他可以报道这个消息，但不能指明来源。这条消息真的当天上了报。他一有空就到吉姆的房间里去检查一下，看看有没有什么东西会被头脑机灵的记者发现，猜出埃利斯就是普莱多。我可以说，他干得很干净利落，家属啊什么的都收起来了。”
“没有什么家属。”史迈利说。“我想除了比尔以外。”他低声补充一句。
（比尔·海顿写给他的导师范沙维的推荐信，乔治·史迈利视角）
"My dear Fan, I suggest you stir yourself to make a fewenquiries about the young gentleman whose name is appended on the attachedfragment of human skin." [Inquisitors' superfluous note: Prideaux.]"You probably know Jim—if you know him at all—as an athleticus of someaccomplishment. What you do not know but ought to is that he is no meanlinguist nor yet a total idiot either..." [Here followed a biographicalsummary of surprising accuracy:... Lycee Lakanal in Paris, put down for Eton,never went there, Jesuit day-school Prague, two semesters Strasbourg, parentsin European banking, small aristo, live apart... ]
"Hence our Jim's wide familiarity with parts foreign, and hisrather parentless look, which I find irresistible. By the way: though he ismade up of all different bits of Europe, make no mistake: the completed versionis devoutly our own. At present, he is abit of a striver and a puzzler, for he has just noticed that there is a WorldBeyond the Touchline and that world is me.
"But you must first hear how I met him.
"As you know, it is my habit (and your command) now and then toput on Arab costume and go down to the bazaars, there to sit among the greatunwashed and give ear to the word of their prophets, that I may in due coursebetter confound them. The juju man en vogue that evening came from the bosom ofMother Russia herself: one Academician Khlebnikov, presently attached to theSoviet Embassy in London, a jolly, rather infectious little fellow, who managedsome quite witty things among the usual nonsense. The bazaar in question was adebating club called the Populars—our rival, dear Fan, and well known to youfrom other forays I have occasionally made. After the sermon a wildlyproletarian coffee was served, to the accompaniment of a dreadfully democraticbun, and I noticed this large fellow sitting alone at the back of the room,apparently too shy to mingle. His face was slightly familiar from the cricketfield; it turns out we both played in some silly scratch team withoutexchanging a word. I don't quite know how to describe him. He has it, Fan. I amserious now."
Here the handwriting, till now ill-at-ease, spread out as the writergot into his stride:
"He has that heavy quiet that commands. Hard-headed, quiteliterally. One of those shrewd quiet ones that lead the team without anyonenoticing. Fan, you know how hard it is for me to act. You have to remind me allthe time, intellectually remind me, that unless I sample life's dangers I shallnever know its mysteries. But Jim acts from instinct... he is functional... He's my other half, between us we'd makeone marvellous man, except that neither of us can sing. And Fan, youknow that feeling when you just have to go out and find someone new or theworld will die on you?"
The writing steadied again.
" 'Yavas Lagloo,' says I, which I understand is Russian formeet me in the woodshed or something similar, and he says 'Oh, hullo,' which Ithink he would have said to the Archangel Gabriel if he'd happened to bepassing.
" 'What is your dilemma?' says I.
" 'I haven't got one,' says he, after about an hour's thought.
" 'Then what are you doing here? If you haven't a dilemma howdid you get in?'
"So he gives a big placid grin and we saunter over to the greatKhlebnikov, shake his tiny paw for a while, then toddle back to my rooms. Wherewe drink. And drink. And, Fan, he drank everything in sight. Or perhaps I did,I forget. And come the dawn, do you know what we did? I will tell you, Fan. Wewalked solemnly down to the Parks, I sit on a bench with a stop-watch, and bigJim gets into his running kit and lopes twenty circuits. Twenty. I was quiteexhausted.
"We can come to youany time; he asks nothing better than to be in my company or that of my wicked,divine friends. In short, he has appointed me his Mephistopheles and I amvastly tickled by the compliment. By the by, he is virgin, about eight foottall, and built by the same firm that did Stonehenge. Do not be alarmed."
The file died again. Sitting up, Smiley turned the yellowed pagesimpatiently, looking for stronger meat. Thetutors of both men aver (twenty years later) that it is inconceivable that therelationship between the two was "more than purely friendly"...
亲爱的范，我建议你着手打听一下这个姓名见附件的年轻人。［审查人多余的注解：普莱多］你若知道吉姆，必然知道他是个有相当成就的运动员。但是你应知而不知的是，他也精通数国外语，而且也不完全是个呆子……
接着是他的简历，令人惊奇的精确：……巴黎拉克纳尔中学，申请念伊顿，但从来没去上过学，布拉格耶稣会中学，斯特拉斯堡大学两学期，父母在欧洲从事银行业，小贵族，父母分居……
因此，吉姆非常熟悉国外情况，他无牵无挂，我觉得极为可贵。再者，尽管他到过欧洲各地，但请别弄错，他骨子里完完全全是个英国佬。目前他刚出道，有点迷惘，因为他刚发现了球场之外还有一个新大陆，那就是我。
但是你一定要知道我是怎样遇到他的。
你知道，我有时习惯（也是你的命令）穿起阿拉伯服装到集市里去，混在他们中间，听他们那些先知的谈话，以备有朝一日可以好好地对付他们。那天晚上出风头的巫师是从俄罗斯来的，一个名叫赫列布尼科夫的科学院院士，当时在伦敦苏联大使馆工作，是个随和、有感染力的家伙，他在大家说废话时说了一些相当有智慧的话。那个集市有个叫做大众俱乐部的辩论会，是我们的对手，我以前去过几次，情况你已知道。谈话结束后，一边喝大众化的咖啡，一边进行民主争论，吵得不可开交。这时我注意到有个大个子坐在后排，显然太羞怯，怕跟人混在一起。他的脸仿佛是在板球场见过的，后来才弄清楚我们两人都在一个临时组成的球队里打过球，只是没有说过一句话。我不知道怎样描写他才好。他是这块料，范。我这不是开玩笑。
笔迹到此为止有些拘谨，但从此开始，由于作者得心应手，潦草了起来。
他沉默寡言，让人敬畏。头脑很固执——真的是那样。他是属于那种能够不露痕迹领导别人的沉着、有想法的人。范，你知道要我采取行动是多么困难。你得随时提醒我，从思想上提醒我，除非我尝到生活中危险的滋味，否则我是不会了解生活的神秘的。但是吉姆是个凭本能就会行动的人……他是执行者……他是我的另一半，我们两个加起来，可以成为一个很完美的人，惟一不足的是我们两个都不会唱歌。范，你有这样的体会吗？你非得要出去找到一个新朋友，否则活在这个世界上就没有意思了？
这里笔迹又整齐了一些。
“耶伐斯拉格罗”，我说，据我理解这是俄语，意思是到木棚里或者什么地方去等我，但是他却说“哈罗”，我想要是他见到加百利天使经过，他也会这样说的。
“你的难题是什么？”我问他。
“我没有难题。”他想了好一会儿才说。
“那么你在这里干什么？你要是没有难题，你怎么进来的？”
他咧开嘴安详地一笑，我们就到那个伟大的赫列布尼科夫那里去，握了一握他的小手，一起回到我的房间。我们喝了酒，喝啊喝的。范，他见到什么都喝。也许是我见到什么都喝，反正我已忘掉是谁了。天亮以后，你猜我们怎么着？我来告诉你，范。我们一本正经地走到公园里，我拿着一只秒表坐在凳子上，吉姆换了运动衣，跑了二十圈。二十圈。我可累得够呛。
我们随时都会来见你，他只要跟我在一起，或者跟我的好、坏朋友在一起。总之，他要我做浮士德的恶魔。我感到很荣幸。再者，他还是童男，身高八尺，体格结实跟巨石群一样。别害怕喔。
档案至此快完了。史迈利坐了起来，不耐烦地翻着发黄的纸，想找一些更精彩的内容。这两个人的导师（二十年后）断言，无法想像这两个人之间的关系“超过纯粹友谊”……
（乔治·史迈利视角）
Smiley was nearly asleep as he read the last entry on the file,tossed in haphazard long after Jim's formal clearance had come through from thecompetition. It was a cutting from an Oxford newspaper of the day giving areview of Haydon's one-man exhibition in June, 1938, headed "Real orSurreal? An Oxford Eye."
Having torn the exhibition to shreds, thecritic ended on this gleeful note: "Weunderstand that the distinguished Mr. James Prideaux took time off from hiscricket in order to help hang the canvases. He would have done better, inour opinion, to remain in the Banbury Road. However, since his role of Dobbinto the arts was the only heartfelt thing about the whole occasion, perhaps wehad better not sneer too loud..."
史迈利读到档案中最后一份资料时，几乎已经睡着了。那份资料是在吉姆获得正式审批通过后，国安局胡乱塞进来的。那是当时牛津大学一张报纸的剪报，上面刊载一篇一九三八年六月海顿单人画展的评论，题为《现实抑或超现实？牛津的一个观点》。这位批评家把画展批评得体无完肤，最后幸灾乐祸地说：“我们知道吉姆·普莱多先生为了要帮助悬挂画框，还牺牲了他的板球。我们认为，要是他留在班伯里路，贡献就会更大一些，因为他对艺术的贡献是这次画展惟一感人的地方。也许我们最好不要这么大声讥笑……”
（吉姆·普莱多与乔治·史迈利的对话）
Smiley asked: "It never crossed your mind to drop thejob?"
"No. It did not," Jim snapped, his voice rising in athreat.
"Although, right from the start, you thought the idea waspoppycock?" There was nothing but deference in Smiley's tone. No edge, nowish to score: only a wish to have the truth, clear under the night sky."You just kept marching. You'd seen what was on your back, you thought themission absurd, but you still went on, deeper and deeper into the jungle."
"I did."
"Had you perhapschanged your mind about the mission? Did curiosity draw you after all—was thatit? You wanted passionately to know who the mole was, for instance? I'm onlyspeculating, Jim."
"What's the difference? What the hell does my motive matter ina damn mess like this?"
史迈利问道：“你从来没有想到过洗手不干吗？”
“没有。从来没有想到。”吉姆不快地说，嗓门提高了一些。
“但是，你从一开始就认为这是胡来？”史迈利的声音里只有尊重的意思。一点也没有想表示自己高明，只是想弄清楚真相，在夜空下弄得一清二楚。“你继续向前走。你已经看到了背后有人跟踪，你认为这次任务是荒谬可笑的，但是你仍旧走下去，越来越深入丛林里。”
“是的。”
“有没有可能，你对这次任务改变了想法？是不是好奇心吸引着你？比如你一心想知道地鼠是谁？吉姆，我这只是胡乱猜测。”
“那有什么不同？事已如此，我的动机有什么关系？”
（吉姆·普莱多与乔治·史迈利的对话）
"And what did he say about me?" He repeated: "Whatdid he say about me?"
"Showed me a cigarette lighter. Said it was yours. Present fromAnn. 'With all my love.' Her signature. Engraved."
"Did he mention how he came by it? What did he say, Jim? Comeon, I'm not going to weaken at the knees just because some Russian hood made abad joke about me."
Jim's answer came out like an army order. "He reckoned thatafter Bill Haydon's fling with her, she might care to redraft theinscription." He swung away towards the car. "I told him," he shouted furiously. "Told him to hiswrinkled little face. You can't judge Bill by things like that. Artists havetotally different standards. See things we can't see. Feel things that arebeyond us. Bloody little man just laughed. 'Didn't know his pictures were thatgood,' he said. I told him, George. 'Go to hell. Go to bloody hell. If you hadone Bill Haydon in your damned outfit, you could call it set and match.' Isaid to him: 'Christ Almighty,' I said, 'what are you running over here? Aservice or the bloody Salvation Army?' "
“关于我也说了些什么吗？”他又说一遍，“对我他说了什么？”
“给我看一只打火机。说这是你的。安恩的礼物。上面刻着‘爱你的安恩’，还有她的签名。”
“他提过他怎么得到的吗？他怎么说，吉姆？说吧，我不会因为一个俄国无赖耻笑我就不高兴的。”
吉姆的回答像军队的命令一样干脆。“他说，在与比尔·海顿发生关系以后，她可能想改换上面的题词。”他突然向汽车走去。“我告诉他，”他生气地叫道，“我当着那小老头儿的皱皮脸告诉他。你不能根据那样的事情来判断比尔的为人。艺术家的道德标准是完全不一样的。他们的看法跟我们不同。他们的感情我们无法体会。那个小王八蛋听了只是大笑。他说，‘不知道他的画有那么好。’我告诉他，乔治，‘滚你妈的。滚你妈的。要是你们有一个像比尔·海顿那样的人，你们才算有资格说呢。’我对他说，‘真是天晓得，’我说，‘你们这算是什么呀？是个情报机关，还是他妈的救世军？’”
（吉姆·普莱多与乔治·史迈利的对话）
"Yes," he said. "Idid a bit of forgetting, too. So Toby actually mentioned Tinker, Tailor to you.However did he get hold of that story, unless... And no word from Bill?"he went on. "Not even a postcard."
"Bill was abroad," saidJim shortly.
"Who told you that?"
"Toby."
"So you never saw Bill; since Testify, your oldest, closestfriend, he disappeared."
"You heard what Toby said. I was out of bounds. Quarantine."
"Bill was never much of a one for regulations, though, washe?" said Smiley, in a reminiscent tone.
"And you were never one to see him straight," Jim barked.
“是的，”他说，“我也在忘掉一切。那么托比确实跟你提到了锅匠、裁缝。不管他是怎么知道这件事的，除非……比尔带来什么口信吗？”他继续问，“连明信片也不寄一张？”
“比尔在国外。”吉姆说。
“谁告诉你的？”
“托比。”
“那么你一直没有见到比尔：自从作证计划以后，你最要好的老朋友，就此不再露面了。”
“你听到托比的话。我不许跟人接触，处在隔离状态。”
“不过比尔从来不是严格遵守规定的人，是不是？”史迈利用回忆往事一般的口气说。
“你对他的看法向来是不对的。”吉姆嚷道。
（吉姆·普莱多与乔治·史迈利的对话）
"So when was the last time you saw Bill, actually? To talkto," Smiley asked, just as one might about any old friend. He hadevidently disturbed Jim in other thoughts, for he took a moment to lift hishead and catch the question.
"Oh, round about," he said carelessly. "Bumped intohim in the corridors, I suppose."
"And to talk to? Never mind." For Jim had returned to hisother thoughts.
“那么你最后一次见到比尔，跟他谈话，究竟是什么时候？”史迈利问，好像是问到一个老朋友一样。吉姆显然在想别的事，因为他过了一会儿才抬起头来，想听明白问的是什么。
“哦，大概是，”他不经意地说，“我想大概是在走廊里碰到的。”
“跟他谈话了吗？算了。”因为为吉姆又在想别的了。
（乔治·史迈利视角）
Somewhere the path of pain and betrayal must end. Until thathappened, there was no future; there was only a continued slide into still moreterrifying versions of the present. Thisman was my friend and Ann's lover, Jim's friend and—for all I know—Jim's lover,too; it was the treason, not the man, that belongedto the public domain.
痛苦和背叛的道路总有尽头。在到尽头之前，没有将来，只有继续滑入更可怕的现实。这个人是我的朋友、安恩的情人、吉姆的朋友，说不定也是吉姆的情人。此人的叛国是国家的事。
（乔治·史迈利视角）
He knew, of course. He had always known it was Bill. Just as Controlhad known, and Lacon in Mendel's house. Just as Connie and Jim had known, andAlleline and Esterhase; all of them had tacitly shared that unexpressedhalf-knowledge which like an illness they hoped would go away if it was neverowned to, never diagnosed.
当然，他知道。他从一开头就知道是比尔。正如老总知道，拉康在孟德尔家里也知道。正如康妮和吉姆知道，阿勒莱恩和伊斯特哈斯也知道，他们都默默地心照不宣，只希望这好像是一种疾病一样，能不药而愈，不用承认，不用诊断。
（比尔·海顿与乔治·史迈利的对话）
"WasStevcek's original offer genuine, by the way?" Smiley asked.
"GoodLord, no," said Haydon, actually shocked. "It was a fixfrom the start. Stevcek existed, of course. He was a distinguished Czechgeneral. But he never made an offer to anyone."
Here Smiley sensed Haydon falter. For the first time, he actuallyseemed uneasy about the morality of his behaviour. His manner became noticeablydefensive.
"Obviously,we needed to be certain Control would rise, and how he would rise... and who hewould send. We couldn't have him picking some half-arsed little pavementartist: it had to be a big gun to make the story stick. We knew he'd onlysettle for someone outside the mainstream and someone who wasn't Witchcraft-cleared.If we made it a Czech, he'd have to choose a Czech speaker, naturally."
"Naturally."
"Wewanted old Circus: someone who could bring down the temple a bit."
"Yes,"said Smiley, remembering that heaving, sweating figure on the hilltop. "Yes,I see the logic of that."
"Well, damn it, I got him back," Haydon snapped.
"Yes, that was good of you. Tell me, didJim come to see you before he left on that Testify mission?"
"Yes, he did, as a matter of fact."
"To say what?"
For a long, long whileHaydon hesitated, then did not answer. But the answer was written there, allthe same: in the sudden emptying of his eyes, in the shadow of guilt thatcrossed his thin face. He came to warn you, Smiley thought; because he lovedyou. To warn you; just as he came to tell me thatControl was mad, but couldn't find me because I was in Berlin. Jim was watching your back for you righttill the end.
Also, Haydon resumed, it had to be a country with a recent historyof counter-revolution: Czecho was honestly the only place.
Smiley appeared not quite to be listening.
"Whydid you bring him back?" he asked. "For friendship's sake? Because he was harmless and you held all thecards?"
It wasn't just that, Haydon explained. As long as Jim was in a Czechprison (he didn't say Russian), people would agitate for him and see him assome sort of key. But once he was back, everyone in Whitehall would conspire tokeep him quiet; that was the way of it with repatriations.
"I'msurprised Karla didn't just shoot him. Or did he hold back out of delicacytowards you?"
But Haydon had drifted away again into half-baked politicalassertions.
“我打一下岔，斯蒂夫契克原来的建议是真的吗？”史迈利问。
“当然不。”海顿说，真的吃了一惊，“从一开始就是假的。当然有斯蒂夫契克其人。他是个很杰出的捷克将领。但他从来没有向谁提出过什么建议。”
这时史迈利发现海顿说话期期艾艾了。他第一次似乎真的对于自己的行为是否合乎道德感到不安。他的态度明显地变成了为自己辩解的态度。
“显然，我们必须确定知道，老总一定会上钩，他怎么上钩……还有他会派什么人去。我们不能让他派一个小喽啰去，必须是个大角色，这件事才显得当真。我们知道他只能选一个主流以外的人，不知巫术计划的人。如果我们方面是个捷克人，他就当然只能选个会说捷克语的人去。”
“当然。”
“我们要一个圆场老手，能够把这大庙拖垮一些的人。”
“对，”史迈利说，他记起了山顶上那个喘气流汗的人，“对，我明白这道理。”
“他妈的，我不是把他弄回来了吗？”海顿忿忿地说。
“是啊，这是你够朋友的地方。告诉我，吉姆去执行那次作证计划任务时，临走前来看过你吗？”
“来看过。”
“来说什么了？”
海顿迟疑了很久，结果没有回答。但是答案还是明摆在那里：他的眼光突然失神，他瘦削的脸上掠过内疚的阴影。史迈利想，他来找你，因为他爱你。他来警告你，就像他来告诉我老总神经错乱了一样，但是他没有找到我，因为我在柏林。吉姆自始至终都在背后掩护着你。
海顿又说道，还有，这必须是最近发生过反革命事件的国家。因此说老实话，捷克是惟一的地方。
史迈利好像没有在留神谛听。
“你为什么要把他弄回来？”他问道，“为了友情？为了他没有多大作用而你又掌握一切有利的条件？”
海顿说，不是那么一回事。只要吉姆在捷克监牢里多待一天（他没有说俄国监牢）就有人出来为他说话，把他看做是一把钥匙。但是一见他回了国，白厅里人人都想把他的嘴封住，对于遣返回来的人员都是那样的。
“我很奇怪卡拉没有把他枪毙了事。还是因为你的缘故他才手下留情？”
但是这时海顿又漫无边际地在说些半调子的政治理论了。
（乔治·史迈利视角）
Smiley shrugged it all aside, distrustful as ever of the standardshapes of human motive. He settled instead for a picture of one of those woodenRussian dolls that open up, revealing one person inside the other, and anotherinside him. Of all men living, only Karla had seen the last little doll insideBill Haydon. When was Bill recruited, and how? Was his right-wing stand atOxford a pose, or was it paradoxically the state of sin from which Karlasummoned him to grace?
Ask Karla: pity I didn't.
Ask Jim: I never shall.
史迈利耸一耸肩，把这些想法都撇在一边，仍像过去一样对人类行为动机的标准答案一点也不相信，相反的，却相信有那么一个俄罗斯娃娃，打开来里面又是一个娃娃，再打开来里面又是一个。在所有活着的人中，大概只有卡拉看过比尔·海顿身上最后一个小娃娃了。比尔是什么时候被他吸收去的，怎么吸收的？他在牛津时代的右倾立场是一种伪装，还是罪恶，倒反而是卡拉把他从这罪恶中拯救出来？
去问卡拉吧——可惜我没有问他。
去问吉姆吧——我永远不会。
（比尔·罗奇视角）
For the rest of that term,Jim Prideaux behaved in the eyes of Roach much as his mother had behaved whenhis father went away. He spent a lot of time onlittle things, like fixing up the lighting for the school play and mending thesoccer nets with string, and in French he took enormous pains over smallinaccuracies. But big things, like his walks and solitary golf, these he gaveup altogether, and in the evenings stayed in and kept clear of the village.Worst of all was his staring empty look when Roach caught him unawares, and theway he forgot things in class, even red marks for merit. Roach had to remindhim to hand them in each week.
在那个学期剩下的时间里，在罗奇的眼中，吉姆·普莱多的行为举止就像他父亲离开以后他母亲的那个样子。他花很多时间在一些小事情上，比如为学校演戏布置灯光，用绳子修补橄榄球网，上法语课时细心纠正小错误。但是大事情，比如散步和单独打高尔夫球，却完全放弃了，晚上深居简出，不到村里去。最糟的是罗奇在他冷不防的时候，发现他眼光空虚呆滞，在班上丢三落四，甚至忘记给成绩——罗奇得提醒他每周交上去。
（比尔·罗奇视角）
By the night of the play, he was more light-hearted than Roach hadever known him. "Hey, Jumbo, you silly toad, where's your mac—can't yousee it's raining?" he called out, as tired but triumphant, they trailed back to themain building after the performance. "His real name is Bill," heheard him explain to a visiting parent. "We were newboys together."
到演出那天晚上，他神情愉快，为罗奇前所未见。他们在演出后又累又高兴地回到大楼里去的时候，他大声说：“喂，大胖，你这个傻蛋，你的雨衣呢，你没有看到在下雨吗？”他听见他向一位来看戏的家长说：“他的真名叫比尔，我们俩是同时到这里来的。”
（第一章）
There was lastly the incident ofthe owl, which had a separate place in their opinion of him, since it involveddeath, a phenomenon to which children react variously. The weather continuingcold, Jim brought a bucket of coal to his classroom and one Wednesday lit it inthe grate, and sat there with his back to the warmth, reading a dictee. Firstsome soot fell, which he ignored; then the owl came down, a full-sized barn owlwhich had nested up there, no doubt, through many unswept winters and summersof Dover's rule, and was now smoked out, dazed and black from beating itself toexhaustion in the flue. It fell over the coals and collapsed in a heap on thewooden floorboard with a clatter and a scuffle, then lay like an emissary ofthe devil, hunched but breathing, wings stretched, staring straight out at theboys through the soot which caked its eyes. There was no one who was notfrightened; even Spikely, a hero, was frightened. Except for Jim, who had in asecond folded the beast together and taken it out of the door without a word.They heard nothing, though they listened like stowaways, till the sound ofrunning water from down the corridor as Jim evidently washed his hands. "He's having a pee," said Spikely, which earned a nervous laugh. But asthey filed out of the classroom they discovered the owl still folded, neatlydead and awaiting burial, on top of the compost heap beside the Dip. Its neck,as the braver ones established, was snapped. Only a gamekeeper, declaredSudeley, who had one, would know how to kill an owl so well.
最后还有那个猫头鹰事件，在他们对他的看法中，这另有意义，因为这件事牵涉到死亡，而对于死亡这个现象，孩子们的反应各不相同。有一个星期三，天气还冷，吉姆提了一桶煤到教室里，就在壁炉中生起火来。他背对着炉火，坐在那里取暖，一边读着一篇法语听写题。先是壁炉烟囱里掉了一些脏土下来，他没有理会，接着就掉下来那只猫头鹰。那是一只很大的谷仓猫头鹰，肯定是因为在杜佛的时代，多年以来，不论冬夏，从来都不清除烟囱里的积尘，它就在烟囱里做起了窝，如今给煤烟熏得昏头昏脑，在烟囱里拼命扑翅挣扎，已经弄得全身发黑，精疲力竭了。它掉在煤块上，又滚到地板上，嘴里叽叽呱呱，身上一阵哆嗦，接着就瘫倒在那里，好像是魔鬼的密使。它的身子蜷缩，翅膀张开，胸口还有点呼吸，眼皮上蒙着脏土，但是脏土缝里那双发呆的眼睛，却直瞪瞪地望着那些学生。没有人不感到害怕，甚至众人心目中的英雄好汉斯巴克莱也吓怕了。不过吉姆除外。他一言不发，马上把那只飞禽收拾起来，拎到外面去。他们像船上的偷渡客一样，屏息凝神地谛听外面的动静，却听不到什么声音，直到最后才听见走廊那头的水龙头在放水，那显然是吉姆在洗手。斯巴克莱说“他在撒尿了”，这话引起一阵不安的哄笑。但是他们下了课鱼贯走出教室时，发现在大坑旁边的混合肥料堆上，猫头鹰被扔在那里，完全死了，等待埋葬。胆子大一些的人上前一看，发现脖子已经被折断。只有猎场看守人才会这样干净利落地弄死一只猫头鹰，这话是苏德雷说的，因为他家才有猎场看守人。
（第三十八章）
They drove to Sarratt at a madspeed, and there, in the open night under a clear sky, lit by several handtorches and stared at by several white-faced inmates of the Nursery, sat BillHaydon on a garden bench facing the moonlit cricket field. He was wearingstriped pyjamas under his overcoat; they looked more like prison clothes. Hiseyes were open and his head was propped unnaturally to one side, like the headof a bird when its neck has been expertly broken.
他们像疯了似的开往沙拉特，就在那里，在明朗的夜空下，有几支手电筒的光照着，几个训练所里同住的人脸色苍白地在旁看着，一条花园的长凳上，坐着比尔·海顿，面孔朝着月光下的板球场。他的大衣下面穿着一套睡衣裤，看上去更像囚衣。他的眼睛睁开，脑袋不自然地垂在一边，好像被内行人折断脖子的鸟头一样。